Command Line PHP on Microsoft Windows

Getting PHP to run from the command line can be performed without making
any changes to Windows.

C:\PHP5\php.exe -f "C:\PHP Scripts\script.php" -- -arg1 -arg2 -arg3

But there are some easy steps that can be followed to make this simpler.
Some of these steps should already have been taken, but are repeated here
to be able to provide a complete step-by-step sequence.

Note:

Both PATH and PATHEXT are important pre-existing system variables in Windows, and care should be taken to not overwrite either variable, only to add to them.

Append the location of the PHP executable (php.exe,
php-win.exe or php-cli.exe
depending upon your PHP version and display preferences) to the
PATH environment variable. Read more about how to
add your PHP directory to PATH in the corresponding FAQ entry.

Append the .PHP extension to the
PATHEXT environment variable. This can be done
at the same time as amending the PATH environment
variable. Follow the same steps as described in the FAQ but amend the
PATHEXT environment variable rather than the
PATH environment variable.

Note:

The position in which you place the .PHP will
determine which script or program is executed when there are matching
filenames. For example, placing .PHP before
.BAT will cause your script to run, rather than
the batch file, if there is a batch file with the same name.

Associate the .PHP extension with a file type. This
is done by running the following command:

assoc .php=phpfile

Associate the phpfile file type with the appropriate
PHP executable. This is done by running the following command:

ftype phpfile="C:\PHP5\php.exe" -f "%1" -- %~2

Following these steps will allow PHP scripts to be run from any directory
without the need to type the PHP executable or the .PHP
extension and all parameters will be supplied to the script for processing.

The example below details some of the registry changes that can be made manually.